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Watchers
The Watchers are an ancient order of men and women originally created by Ammaletu the Akkadian after he saw Gilgamesh come back to life. Watchers observe the lives of immortal men and women and record as much of their observations as they can. They are aware of The Game and The Rules. Their mission is to observe and record but never interfere. In 904 B.C.E the immortal Methos discovered the proto-Watchers organization after overhearing a conversation where immortals he was familiar with were discussed. He was able to infiltrate the organization thanks to his extremely low profile. He even met and married a Watcher named Rachel. Methos also met his own Watcher in the 16th century and enjoyed a friendship with him. Structure The heads of the organization are the Tribunal, three persons responsible for final decisions. Prior to the winter of 1996 Tribunal members were not elected, after the Galati Affair members were democratically elected. Under the Tribunal were geographic leaders such as Jacques Vemas who was in charge of Europe when Methos and Dawson attempted to stop Christine Salzer's plan to reveal immortals and Watchers to the world. There is also a philosophical and functional division within the organization between Watchers assigned to the field and those assigned to research. The Field Considering the requirements for secrecy and non-interference when dealing with immortals field operatives often faced the threat of brutal torture and death in order to keep the secret of the Watcher's organization safe. Some operatives were pulled from the field after enduring particularly hard assignments such as Amy Thomas-Brennan who was reassigned from the extremely dangerous and deceased immortal Morgan Walker to assist on the Methos Chronicle. Some immortals were considered safer than others for a new field agent. David Shapiro was assigned to Duncan Macleod before he had completed his training due to a man power shortage. Macleod was selected due to his reasonably peaceful history and strong moral grounding. Research Watchers assigned to research usually have advanced skills and aptitude for detailed research ranging from the collection and safe storage of ancient manuscripts and documents to computer, language, forensic, and investigative skills. While not necessarily 'unfit' for the field some prefer research to the field. For instance Adam Pierson preferred research not only because he was immortal and would have been unable to function as a field operative but also because he had a talent and enjoyment of languages and technology. He managed to be assigned to his own Chronicle which allowed him to manipulate it in order to further obscure and confuse his history. Recent History Exposure During his lifetime Duncan Macleod ran across mortals wearing a unique symbol or tattooed with it several times. It was not until the untimely murder of Darius in The Hunters (episode) in 1993 that Duncan began to earnestly investigate the symbol as it was the only clue to Darius' killer's identity available. Duncan's search brought him to Joe Dawson, Joe was forced to reveal the existence of the Watchers to Duncan and admit that he was assigned to Duncan's Chronicle in The Watchers. The Hunters After Joe revealed the Watchers existence in a bid to calm and reason with Duncan, Macleod spotted James Horton, Joe's brother in law and, the mortal who had attempted to kill him. Horton was revealed as the leader of a band of renegade Watchers dubbed The Hunters who were bent on killing all immortals considering them evil abominations. Horton was the charismatic ring leader and instigator of the group, in the 1980s he spent several years assigned to The Kurgan, it likely that this exposure strongly assisted in forming Horton's opinion of immortals as evil monsters. Macleod managed to confront Horton and when Horton wouldn't listen to reason and Joe was unable to talk him out of his mission Macleod moved to kill Horton but Horton's daughter interceded begging Macleod for her father's life, Macleod relented only to be shot in the back by an enraged Horton, Macleod managed to run Horton through in The Hunters (episode). Believing Horton was dead Macleod returned to his life and began a tentative friendship with Joe Dawson. James Horton returned twice more (Joe hid Horton's survival after Duncan stabbed him due to their familial relationship although he ensured Horton was removed from the Watchers). On Horton's first return he allied himself with the evil Xavier St. Cloud in Unholy Alliance: Part One and Unholy Alliance: Part Two Dawson shot him intending to kill him at the close of Unholy Alliance: Part Two. Horton returned again in Counterfeit: Part One and Counterfeit: Part Two before he was finally killed by Macleod. The active Hunters largely went dormant, left the Watchers, or were exposed after Horton's death. However the damage created by Horton's murders was far from over. Note: While the demon Ahriman masquerades as Horton in Archangel in 1997 James Horton died in 1994. The Galati Affair / Joe's Trial In Judgment Day, Jacob Galati's wife Irena Galati was murdered by Horton and a band of Hunters while Jacob was bound and forced to not only watch but take her Quickening. Enraged and sickened by Irena's murder Galati went after the Watchers not knowing or caring that Horton and the Hunters were an aberration and Horton was long dead. Meanwhile Joe had been captured by fellow Watchers and was forced to stand trial for interfering with an immortal by enjoying a friendship with Macleod. Methos tried to assist Joe using the Chronicle Methos' own Watcher had created in the 16th century as evidence of what positive things could happen if Watchers and immortals were allowed to interact more openly. Methos' pleas were to no effect as the Tribunal sentenced Joe to death upon hearing of David Shapiro's murder. Jacob killed Watcher David Shapiro the son of Jack Shapiro and the Watcher assigned to Duncan Macleod replacing Joe Dawson in 1996. Jack Shapiro reacted badly to his son's death partly out of natural grief but also because David was prematurely sent into the field due to a man power shortage adding massive guilt to Shapiro's burden. Macleod was considered a safe assignment due to his history of strong morality. Making matters worse when Duncan attempted to prevent Joe's execution Galati murdered the Watchers holding Joe and nearly killed Joe. In One Minute to Midnight the Watchers were convinced that Macleod was hunting Watchers with Galati. Joe and Methos managed to reach Shapiro when Joe pretended to take Methos hostage (at this point the Watchers were still unaware that 'Adam Pierson' was really Methos) and bullied his way into Shapiro's compound. Shapiro called Joe's bluff telling him to release Pierson as he knew the two were friends and Joe would never hurt Pierson. Joe hoped to talk some sense into Shapiro and explain what happened at his would-be execution but failed. Meanwhile Duncan attempted to reach Galati and reason with him before Shapiro's men could capture and kill either of them. Galati was hellbent on vengeance obsessed with avenging his lover and wouldn't listen. Galati and Macleod were captured by the Watchers and in spite of Macleod and Joe's objections Shapiro beheaded Galati and Macleod was forced to take in his friend's Quickening. Incensed with bloodlust Shapiro then turned on Macleod. Joe managed to stop Shapiro and end the conflict before it grew even worse and spread beyond Macleod and Shapiro. New Organization According to the The Watcher's Chronicles CD-ROM in July 1996 a democratically elected Tribunal replaced the previous Tribunal whose membership had included Jack Shapiro. The new Tribunal met to determine Jack Shapiro's fate, they concluded that the death of his son was punishment enough and retired him from the organization. The Methos Incident During Methos' attempt to steal the pieces of the Methuselah Stone held by the Watchers he was shot and killed in front of witnesses and revives (these witnesses were Amanda and renegade Watchers, intent on piecing the Methuselah Stone together in order to gain immortality, the renegades were killed while trying to capture the the last pieces of the Stone. It is not certain if the Renegades filed a report about Methos). Whatever the case by June of 1996 Adam Pierson was considered AWOL (he had also left his duties to spend time with his dying lover Alexa Bond, he only left Alexa's side during Methuselah's Gift because he hoped to gather the Stone and grant her immortality with it. That July Dr. Amy Zoll took over the Methos Chronicle. By November of 1996 the cat was out of the bag, Joe received an email confronting his knowledge of 'Adam Pierson's' real identity. Joe proteseted that by keeping Methos' secret he managed to keep him from running and claimed that Methos could now be followed by a field Watcher. Note: It is uncertain how the Watcher's determined Methos' nature. It is possible he left enough clues coupled with his erratic behavior to clue Dr. Zoll in on his real identity. It was also indicated that the Watchers were somehow aware of Methos' past as a Horseman since Joe objected that Methos had changed since then. This was unusual in that Joe had known Methos for quite some time before Kronos returned and had no knowledge of his past as Death. The content of the email then implied that either Dr. Zoll pieced together Methos' history somehow and presented that information to Joe via the email or Joe simply never bothered to look at his friend's Chronicle. Dr. Zoll then spent considerable time trying to determine what portions of Methos' chronicle were accurate and which he manipulated to hide his tracks. She also drafted a letter to the new Tribunal pointing out that attempting to discipline 'Adam Pierson' was pointless since Pierson A. he didn't exist and B. had already left the Watchers which left the only remaining punishment either capture or beheading neither of which were viable after the Hunters and the Galati affair. In December of 1996 Methos / Adam Pierson was formally dishonorably discharged from the Watchers organization. The Sanctuary Immortals who had grown tired of the Game or otherwise requested it were installed in the Sanctuary, a safe house run by Watchers. The immortals were drugged and held in contraptions intended to immobilize them and ensure mortal humanity would never be ruled by an immortal. Considering the unpleasant nature of the confinement it is possible that some or many of the immortal participants were unaware of how the Sanctuary actually functioned. The Sanctuary was destroyed in the early 2000s by Jacob Kell. Kell beheaded all the inmates, with the exception of Connor Macleod whom he had been hunting and tormenting for centuries. Connor entered the Sanctuary ten years previously seeking peace from Kell's torments. Considering the state of the inmates, the secrecy of the program, and the death of Mathew Hale the Watcher who ran the Sanctuary it is unlikely a new version was created to replace it though it is possible. (Joe Dawson killed Hale when Hale attempted to interfere with Duncan's challenge of Kell, Hale intended to imprison both immortals in a new version of the Sanctuary). Note:In the longer version of Highlander: Endgame Methos mentioned that the Sanctuary was built on holy ground. However Kell beheaded every inmate, aside from Connor Macleod, with no disastrous consequences. Since this is counter to the established canon that immortals cannot fight on holy ground per The Rules all references to it being built on holy ground were removed from the shorter version of the film. This leads to a logic error in that the Watchers carefully constructed a Sanctuary to deny an ending to the Game with the one caveat that it was wholly vulnerable to an incursion by a hostile immortal/s.